


Three Hours After Midnight

by UAs_Fics



Series: One-shots for Creek--Week 2018 [7]
Category: South Park
Genre: M/M, One-Shot, Soul Mate AU, creekweek2018, possibly not the ending you expect
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-08 22:13:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16437782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UAs_Fics/pseuds/UAs_Fics
Summary: On your sixteenth birthday, you get your soulmate’s eye and they get yours. That's just how it is.Craig’s been sixteen for all of three hours, and the thought that Tweek might not be his soulmate terrifies him.





	Three Hours After Midnight

**Author's Note:**

> The final fic for Creek--Week 2018, Soul Mates.

Craig had been sixteen-years-old for all of three hours. Well, according to his birth certificate, it had only been an hour and twenty minutes, but it didn't matter in the long run.

What did matter would come when Craig would finally force himself out of his bed and to a mirror. Just like everyone else, the moment Craig turned sixteen, the universe gifted him a clue to the identity of his soulmate.

The feeling tingled and left almost as quickly as it came. It took only a heartbeat for Craig to realize his own hazel right eye was gone, and in its place was the eye of his soulmate. The eye wasn't worse than his old one, luckily. He’d heard stories on the internet and through rumors of people completely losing or gaining their sight when they got their soulmate’s eyes. That was why Cartman would relentlessly tease Butters that his soulmate would probably end up hating him for ‘forcing them to suffer’ with his scarred up eye. 

Luckily for Craig, he could still see just fine when he checked his phone for the time, maybe even better. It did itch a little, but Craig had been told that was normal. 

All of this was normal, and Craig hated it.

When Craig was a child, the whole concept of ‘soulmates’ seemed like a great idea. He thought it would make his life easier. He thought he could just walk around until he saw his eye in someone else’s head and then he would live happily ever after. 

He also thought he liked girls back then, too.

Then everything changed when he and Tweek were pushed together. His feelings shifted so dramatically in the six years since they started dating. Whom his soulmate was didn't matter to Craig until the possibility that it might not be Tweek came up. 

That thought terrified him. 

Finding one's soulmate was an uncommon occurrence. That was a fact. Craig had pulled it up to angst over the evening before on three separate occasions. Of everyone he knew, the only married soulmates he had ever met were Clyde's parents.

Statistically, Craig was not going to be Tweek's soulmate. He hated that thought with every fiber of his being. The idea that one day Tweek could bump into someone else and be looking back at his own two-toned eye had been haunting him for the past few months.

His heart ached as he imagined the very notion of Tweek leaving Craig to be with the man the universe made especially for him. 

Craig groaned as he buried his face into his pillow. 

He told Tweek all the time that avoiding the problem didn't help, but here he was, avoiding walking the ten steps down the hall to the bathroom to look at his face. Hell, he didn't even need a mirror. He could easily use his phone and take a selfie. He had no reason to be putting off the inevitable.

But, he just couldn't do it. 

Rolling over to his side, he pulled the covers over his head. Maybe he could _will_ his soulmate to be Tweek. He was stubborn enough. A fight against fate couldn't be that hard. The universe could just let Craig's soulmate be with Tweek's. Problem solved. Everyone’s happy.

The door opened, stealing Craig from his thoughts. A flashlight beam skimmed across his room, then settled on his covered form. It was nearly four in the morning, so who would be coming in to bother him?

Trisha, probably.

She had been so sure that Craig was Tweek's soulmate. _"He's going to be my brother-in-law, Craig. I already have the Pinterest board for your wedding made, so I know for a fact your soulmates,"_ she would say before asking Craig which centerpiece or appetizer would work best for his nuptials. 

“Go away, Trish,” Craig grumbled.

The door clicked shut and soft footsteps padded towards the bed.

“I said ‘'go away.’ Just because you're keen on me marrying Tweek doesn't mean I am.” he tightened his grip on his blanket, in case she tried to pull it off. 

The bed sunk down as someone sat. A familiar voice said, “I don't think that came out like you meant it too.”

Craig's eyes flew wide. He almost bolted up but caught himself. He couldn't bear it if Tweek's disappointed face was how he found out they weren't soulmates. Instead, he remained under his blanket with hands balled into fists around the fabric.

“Tweek, what are you doing here?” He asked, praying his voice didn’t carry any of the worries he felt.

“I wanted to be the first to wish you a happy birthday,” Tweek told him. “So, um, happy sixteenth birthday, Craig.” 

Tweek scooted across the mattress, and Craig braced himself for when Tweek would try to pry the blanket off him. Instead of having his shield from the truth ripped away, he felt Tweek press against his ear. It took a moment to realize it was probably supposed to be a birthday kiss. 

The flashlight clicked off and Craig heard it be set on his side table, leaving them both alone in the dark. Craig rolled over, remaining under the covers, about to thank Tweek, when Tweek whispered, “it's ok if you’re scared.”

He froze and didn't reply.

“I'm pretty scared too, dude.” Tweek laid down next to him, dropping his arm over his side. “I...it's so weird that we might not be made for each other. I don't like it.”

That flipped a switch in Craig from nervous for himself mode to comforting boyfriend.

“It doesn't matter if we're not soulmates, honey.” Craig offered softly as if he wasn't just struggling with that very thought mere moments ago. “We can still be together. My parents aren't soulmates. Neither are yours, and they're making it work.”

“Y-yeah, that's what I thought when I was standing outside a half hour ago, but still, what if we make it together until we are forty and you meet the astronaut NASA worker of your dreams?” Tweek shuddered.

“Ok, one, the only astronaut NASA worker of my dreams is me.” Craig corrected. “Two, what do you mean ‘standing outside a half hour ago’? Were you waiting outside in the cold?” 

“Yes? It’s fine. I don't feel cold at all--”

Before Tweek could finished, Craig yanked the blanket out from under Tweek then threw it over him before pulling him to his chest.

As Craig had thought, Tweek was freezing.

“It's January in the mountains, Tweek,” Craig muttered into his hair. “You could have frozen out there.”

“It was only for a half hour! I'm wearing an extra shirt under my button up. I knew I wouldn't be able to come in right when I got here.” Tweek protested, though he snuggled against Craig anyway. He pressed his cold nose against the warm crook of Craig's neck.

“You should have climbed through the window. It's only fair since I have to do that to sneak into your bedroom.” Craig teased, thankful for the change in topics. 

“My parents don't keep a key to the house in a fake rock under a bush.” Tweek quipped.

“Well, they should.”

Tweek chuckled, and Craig felt his heart flutter before he reminded himself of the sobering reality again and it fell into his stomach. 

“I thought of something else while I was outside,” Tweek mumbled. “The world is more than half women, right? So you and I have more than half chance that our soulmates are platonic ones.”

Craig raised an eyebrow, though Tweek couldn't see it. “You think?”

“Yeah, my boxing coach, Mr. Jimbo, says his roommate is his soulmate, but it's just a deep platonic friendship,” Tweek explained. “Or we could share a soulmate. I've heard that happens before. Part of your eye is one of your soulmates and the other is another soulmate. Some people even get crazy rainbow eyes because of it!”

“Wow, I didn't even think about those kinds of soulmates,” Craig replied, though more to keep the conversation going than in agreement. Of course, other types of soulmates existed, but that wasn't what Craig wanted. He wanted confirmation that _Tweek_ was his soulmate, not someone else. He needed to know if they were tailor-made for each other, like everyone said.

“Yeah, and as I was thinking about that, I realized something.” Tweek took a breath. “It doesn't matter to me if we're soulmates or not, because soulmates are kind of stupid.”

“What?” Craig pushed Tweek back and looked down at him out of reflex. He couldn’t see his face at all in the darkness under the blanket.

Tweek took Craig’s hands from his shoulders and held them to his chest before he continued, “This whole soulmate thing is kind of stupid. Everyone acts like soulmates are going to be your wife or husband or spouse and that you’ll live happily ever after, but nothing in life works like that, dude! Mr. Donovan found his soulmate, and they still had plenty of troubles. When she passed away, he didn’t get his happily ever after with her.

“It’s just,” Tweek paused a moment to think, “ _silly_ that we put soulmates on a pedestal like that, you know? Relationships are always changing, better or worse; being or not being a soulmate isn’t going to change that.”

Tweek pressed a kiss to Craig’s cheek, nearly missing and kissing his neck instead. “We were classmates once, then friends, then fake boyfriends, now real ones. Maybe one day we’ll be husbands, maybe one day bitter exes or back to good friends again. No matter what the universe says, we’ll never stay the same as we are now for long, Craig.” He let out a contented breath against Craig’s jaw. “And I think I’m ok with all that. I still love you. I still want to be with you for as long as I can.”

Craig’s voice came out softer and more fearful than he intended, as he whispered, “I thought you said you were scared like I am.”

“I am,” he admitted. “I’m really terrified that I’ll have to see you be more in love with someone else one day than you are with me, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to walk away from you if you’re not my soulmate today.”

Craig stole a breath before he wrapped his arms around Tweek and pulled him close. He still wanted to know what Tweek was to him, according to the universe. If he knew, he could plan for whatever they end up being, but maybe what they _would_ be didn’t matter as much as what they _are_.

At that moment, they were boyfriends. 

They were the two voted the cutest couple by the class last year. They were the duo that organized a ‘yaoi’ art contest to snag a little extra spending money every year since fifth grade. They were best friends. They were...

_...happy together._

Craig mulled on that thought a moment. They were happy together, extremely happy. He didn’t need a signed letter from God to prove that. 

Letting out a breath through his nose, Craig pulled the covers off of them. It was still way too dark to see, so he didn’t worry about covering his face as he reached across Tweek towards his lamp.

He felt around until his fingers brushed the switch on the lamp’s base. Tweek curled their hands together and squeezed reassuringly. 

“You can do it, Craig.” Tweek encouraged. “No matter what, I’m here for you. I love you.”

With that Craig squeezed his eyes shut once, then turned on the light.

“I love you too, babe.”

* * *

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> And that’s creek--week. Thank you, everyone, for following along! I hope you all enjoyed. :) Interpet the ending as you wish, just know regardless, Trisha is going to burst in and tattle on them~ ¯\\_(~▼~)_/¯
> 
> My writing tumblr ~ My general art tumblr  
> you can read the rest of my creek week works over here


End file.
